Photos by Bethany Goodrich.
We want to thank the community of Sitka for showing up to our 2023 Wild Foods potluck and annual meeting, and for making it such a success. We are so grateful to have spent the first gentle snowfall of the season at Harrigan Centennial Hall, filling its rooms and halls with laughter, music, and an abundance of delicious dishes made with harvested wild foods.
We want to extend our wild gratitude to the many community members who supported the event this year. Gunalchéesh, thank you to our speakers: Gheistéen Chuck Miller for sharing traditional Lingít stories and knowledge so deeply tied to this beautiful place, and to Cameron Peters, who enlightened and entertained us with his Sitka 4-H experiences out on the lands and waters of Lingít Aaní, and Adrienne Wilber, who graciously emceed our event and grounded us with a beautiful blessing. Thank you to Ted Howard and Rick Fleishman, for their lively music which helped set our event’s festive mood. Thank you to Gretchen Stelzenmuller and Enoki Eatery for catering at our event, to the Seafood Producers Cooperative for providing 50 lbs of salmon and halibut, and to AC Lakeside for their generous donation of groceries to help round out the meal. Thank you to Centennial staff for all their help making the event and space ready, and to the many incredible volunteers at Mt. Edgecumbe High School, Outer Coast, JVC Northwest, and other community members who worked diligently behind the scenes to keep everything running smoothly. Thank you to James Poulson and Arrowhead Press for printing beautiful flyers and posters for our event, and to our Alaska Way of Life 4-Hers for making the centerpiece decorations for our tables and tasty berry bar desserts.
Last but not least, we want to once again express our deepest appreciation to everyone who helped pack Centennial Hall with wonderful food and community. Every year, this community comes together and blows us away – not only with the diverse ways that they prepare foods from the lands and waters of the Tongass, but also with how they celebrate and care for each other.
Stay wild,
Sitka Conservation Society Staff & Board
